John Ball (geologist)

Last updated

John Ball was an English geologist born in Derby in 1872. He completed his technical education at Freiberg University of Mining and Technology and got a Doctor's degree from the University of Zurich. [1] Ball traveled to the Saharan Desert in 1897. During his life, he explored and surveyed the deserts of Egypt and Sudan, up until his death in 1941 in Port Said. [2]

Ball surveyed the Qattara Depression in Egypt, which lies below sea level, and made the first study of the possibility that this depression could be used for hydroelectric power generation. [3] [4] This concept, the Quattara Depression Project, is unusual in that salt water would be flowing from the Mediterranean Sea into the Qattara Depression, forming an artificial lake below sea level.

Related Research Articles

Geography of Egypt Geographical features of Egypt

The geography of Egypt relates to two regions: North Africa and Southwest Asia.

Nile Major river in Africa and the longest river in the world

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. The longest river in Africa, it has historically been considered the longest river in the world, though this has been contested by research suggesting that the Amazon River is slightly longer. The Nile is about 6,650 km (4,130 mi) long and its drainage basin covers eleven countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of the Sudan, and Egypt. In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan.

Qattara Depression Depression in the Western Desert of Egypt

The Qattara Depression is a depression in northwestern Egypt, specifically in the Matruh Governorate. The depression is part of the Western Desert of Egypt. The Qattara Depression lies below sea level, and its bottom is covered with salt pans, sand dunes, and salt marshes. The depression extends between the latitudes of 28°35' and 30°25' north and the longitudes of 26°20' and 29°02' east.

Libyan Desert

The Libyan Desert is a geographical region filling the north-eastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval maps, its use predates today's Sahara, and parts of the Libyan Desert include the Sahara's most arid and least populated regions; this is chiefly what sets the Libyan Desert apart from the greater Sahara. The consequent absence of grazing, as well as virtually no waterholes or wells needed to sustain camel caravans, explains why no Trans-Saharan trade routes existed between Kharga close to the Nile, and Murzuk in the Libyan Fezzan. This obscurity saw the region overlooked by early European explorers, and it was not until the early 20th century and the advent of the motor car before the Libyan Desert started to be fully explored.

Cape Juby Cape in southern Morocco

Cape Juby is a cape on the coast of southern Morocco, near the border with Western Sahara, directly east of the Canary Islands.

Sahara desert in Africa

The Sahara is a desert on the African continent. With an area of 9,200,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi), it is the largest hot desert in the world and the third largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic.

Buhen Ancient Egyptian fortress

Buhen was an ancient Egyptian settlement situated on the West bank of the Nile below the Second Cataract in what is now Northern State, Sudan. It is now submerged in Lake Nasser, Sudan. On the East bank, across the river, there was another ancient settlement, where the town of Wadi Halfa now stands. The earliest mention of Buhen comes from stelae dating to the reign of Senusret I. Buhen is also the earliest known Egyptian settlement in the land of Nubia.

Anthony John Arkell MBE MC FSA, known as A. J. Arkell, was a British archaeologist and colonial administrator noted for his work in the Sudan and Egypt.

Jaghbub, Libya Place in Cyrenaica, Libya

Jaghbub is a remote desert village in the Al Jaghbub Oasis in the eastern Libyan Desert. It is actually closer to the Egyptian town of Siwa than to any Libyan town of note. And like Siwa, its population is Berber. The oasis is located in Butnan District and is the administrative seat of the Jaghbub Basic People's Congress. Supported by reservoirs of underground water and date production, the town is best known for its hard-won self-sufficiency. Idris of Libya was born in Jaghbub on 12 March 1890.

Wadi El Natrun Geographic depression in Beheira, Egypt

Wadi El Natrun is a depression in northern Egypt that is located 23 m (75 ft) below sea level and 38 m (125 ft) below the Nile River level. The valley contains several alkaline lakes, natron-rich salt deposits, salt marshes and freshwater marshes.

Wildlife of Egypt The flora and fauna of this country in northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia

The wildlife of Egypt is composed of the flora and fauna of this country in northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia, and is substantial and varied. Apart from the fertile Nile Valley, which bisects the country from south to north, the majority of Egypt's landscape is desert, with a few scattered oases. It has long coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Suez, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. Each geographic region has a diversity of plants and animals each adapted to its own particular habitat.

The Qattara gecko is a species of lizard in the family Phyllodactylidae.

Outline of Egypt Overview of and topical guide to Egypt

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Egypt:

Friedrich Bassler German engineer

Friedrich Bassler was a German hydraulic engineer.

Qattara Depression Project

The Qattara Depression Project, or Qattara Project for short, is a macro-engineering project concept in Egypt. Rivalling the Aswan High Dam in scope, the intention is to develop the hydroelectric potential of the Qattara Depression by creating an artificial lake.

Sahara Sea Engineering project to flood parts of the Sahara Desert with sea water.

The Sahara Sea was the name of a hypothetical macro-engineering project which proposed flooding endorheic basins in the Sahara Desert with waters from the Atlantic Ocean or Mediterranean Sea. The goal of this unrealized project was to create an inland sea that would cover the substantial areas of the Sahara Desert which lie below sea level, bringing humid air, rain, and agriculture deep into the desert.

The Al Jaghbub Oasis is a protected area in northeastern Libya lying close to the border with Egypt. It adjoins the desert village of Jaghbub which is inhabited by Berbers with a population of about 400.

<i>Tephrosia apollinea</i> Species of plant

Tephrosia apollinea is a legume species, native to southwest Asia and northeast Africa.

The Moghra Oasis is an uninhabited oasis in the northeastern part of the Qattara Depression in the Western Desert of Egypt. It has a 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi) lake containing brackish water, salt marshes and a swamp with reeds.

Western Desert (Egypt)

The Western Desert of Egypt is an area of the Sahara that lies west of the river Nile, up to the Libyan border, and south from the Mediterranean sea to the border with Sudan. It is named in contrast to the Eastern Desert which extends east from the Nile to Red Sea. The Western Desert is mostly rocky desert, though an area of sandy desert, known as the Great Sand Sea, lies to the west against the Libyan border. The desert covers an area of 680,650 km2 (262,800 sq mi) which is two-thirds of the land area of the country. Its highest elevation is 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in the Gilf Kebir plateau to the far south-west of the country, on the Egypt-Sudan-Libya border. The Western Desert is barren and uninhabited save for a chain of oases which extend in an arc from Siwa, in the north-west, to Kharga in the south. It has been the scene of conflict in modern times, particularly during the Second World War.

References

  1. "Obituary: Dr. John Ball". The Geographical Journal. 98 (5/6): 301–303. 1941. ISSN   0016-7398. JSTOR   1787469.
  2. Newbold, D. (1941). "Dr. JOHN BALL. A PERSONAL MEMOIR". Sudan Notes and Records. 24: 209–212. ISSN   0375-2984. JSTOR   41716451.
  3. Ball, John (1927). "Problems of the Libyan Desert". The Geographical Journal. 70 (1): 21–38. doi:10.2307/1781881. JSTOR   1781881.
  4. Ball, John (1933). "The Qattara Depression of the Libyan Desert and the Possibility of Its Utilization for Power-Production". The Geographical Journal. 82 (4): 289–314. doi:10.2307/1785898. JSTOR   1785898.